Gulf Creamed Oyster and Corn Chowder
AS ANYONE KNOWS WHO’S EVER BELLIED UP TO THE Acme Oyster House in New Orleans’ French Quarter and uttered to one of the expert shuckers, “Half dozen to start,” Gulf oysters are the fattest, most succulent oysters on earth. Bay Adams, Four Bayous, Baptistes, Choctawhatchees the names go on and on, from Panama City, Florida, […]
Curried Fish Chowder
ANYBODY WHO BELIEVES THAT NEW ENGLANDERS historically have a monopoly on chowder has apparently never had Florida conch chowder, Maryland clam chowder, Louisiana terrapin chowder, or any one of the many hearty fish chowders that Southerners on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts often refer to as “spoon dishes.” And those who can’t associate curry powder […]
Chilled Peach and Mango Soup
FROM THE DAY THE FIRST CLING PEACHES FROM South Carolina and Georgia show up in Southern markets and on farm stands till the last freestone Elbertas and Georgia Belles disappear in September, cooks utilize the luscious fruit in everything from elegant soups to cobblers to preserves. Traditional chilled peach soup has always been considered an […]
Clemson Blue Cheese Soup with Southern Comfort
THOUGH STILL AVAILABLE ONLY IN THE CAROLINAS, Clemson Blue Cheese, produced in relatively small quantities on the campus of Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, is one of the South’s best-kept secrets. Compared favorably by professional turophiles (cheese lovers) with Iowa’s famous Maytag Blue and many distinguished European blue-veined cheeses, Clemson Blue is strictly artisanal, […]
Turtle Bean Soup
KNOWN ALSO AS TURTLE BEANS, BLACK BEANS HAVE been used in the Deep South to make this inimitable soup since at least the early nineteenth century, and even today, turtle bean soup is deemed to be one of the most elegant ways to begin an elaborate dinner. Ironically, the greatest version I ever tasted was […]
Kentucky Potato Country Ham and Sour Grass Soup
LEGEND HAS IT THAT DURING THE FIRST YEARS ON THE Kentucky frontier, housewives followed the cows into the region’s meadows and picked only the wild greens the cows ate to avoid poisonous plants, and no doubt one of these was the tangy sour grass (sorrel) that still flourishes throughout much of the state during the […]
Virginia Sweet Potato and Bourbon Soup
FIRST, TO CLEAR UP ONE GRAVE MISCONCEPTION: genuine yams are not sweet potatoes, despite their resemblance to them in shape and flavor. The two are different plant species altogether—the yam a tuberfound mainly in South America and Africa, the sweet potato native to the New World, especially the American South. Most likely, the confusion derives […]
Pot Likker Soup
THROUGHOUT THE DEEP SOUTH AND MUCH OF Appalachia, pot likker is essentially no more than the vitamin-rich broth left over in a pot of boiled greens or peas cooked with a smoked ham bone, and it is always—I repeat, always—served with cornbread. Arguments flare up about pot likker: Is it one or two words? Can […]
Creole Eggplant Soup
INTRODUCED TO THE AMERICAN COLONIES FROM Africa by Thomas Jefferson, eggplant is often referred to as Guinea squash in Louisiana, where the vegetable has always been much more popular than in other areas of the South—due, most likely, to the large black population there. Except, in fact, for a splendid eggplant soup that chef Bill […]
Tennessee Bean Sausage and Mixed Greens Soup
WHEN TENNESSEE WAS PART OF THE VIRGINIA Territory in the eighteenth century, settled mostly by the English and Scotch Irish, cooking in the hill country revolved mainly around roasted meats, country hams, stews, and hearty soups such as this one based on dried beans, sausages smoked at hog killing time, and the bounty of various […]